The present invention relates to the field of recreational skating.
In-line roller skating has become very popular in recent years along with ice skating and bicycle riding. It would be desirable to provide a simple and thus inexpensive, reliable and easy to use universal skate carrier attachment for carrying in-line roller skates on any conventional article carry bicycle rack, usually mounted over the rear bicycle wheel.
In Hsiao patent 5,269,580 a skate carrier not designed for a conventional bike rack is disclosed, having various spring biased clasps for holding the skate wheels down against a carrier so that they remain in place. Such spring biased clasps are relatively complex and may involve substantial undesired insertion and removal forces while inserting and removing the skates from the carrier. Also, Hsiao does not suggest mounting his carrier upon a bicycle. Even if this were attempted, his carrier would be unsuitable for use in connection with a pre-existing article carrying bicycle rack. This is because such use of his carrier could result in loss of the skates while biking over bumpy terrain and particularly where the skate carrier is mounted on the conventional rear bike rack, not observed by the rider looking forward while steering the bicycle. Should the spring biasing forces be reduced to ease manual forcing of the skates against the manual insertion and removal forces of the skates to and from the carrier, the skates could even more readily separate from the carrier, and be lost during riding the bike over such bumpy terrain.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,617,983 to Lindauer teaches an in-line skate carrier that can be strapped to a bicycle rack and has anti-roll wheel chocks that hinder forward or backward motion of the rollers. As they are not positioned over the rollers it appears that they would not prevent dislodging of the rollers from the carrier, should a mountain bike be driven over rough terrain. Also, Lindauer does not disclose accommodating various wheel sizes.
It is thus a goal of the present invention to provide an in-line skate carrier which can be easily mounted upon any conventional or pre-existing article carrying bike rack, and which ensures that the skates, regardless of variable wheel sizes, cannot xe2x80x9cpop outxe2x80x9d and become disloged and lost, particularly when the skates are being carried by a bike subjected to bumps, while being driven over a bumpy path which is commonplace for popular mountain bikes.
It is a further goal of the invention to provide a skate carrier that is relatively simple, and thus easier and cheaper to manufacture relative to more complex prior art designs, and which is reliable in use and can be mounted upon a pre-existing conventional bicycle rack.
The above mentioned goals are believed to be substantially met by a preferred embodiment of the invention whereby a flat plate carrier is strapped to virtually any conventional or pre-existing article carrying bicycle rack by a first and second strap having conventional buckles. The carrier plate has two wheel tracks for receiving and supporting the in-line wheels of the two skates. Each track has a front wheel stop mechanism comprising a threaded stop bolt which can be quickly and easily inserted through one hole pair of two or three pairs of holes, each hole pair having different vertical positions. The stop bolt in the lower position contacts a small diameter wheel for a child""s skate, and if the stop bolt is in the upper position it contacts the larger diameter wheel of an adult""s skate. An intermediate position can accommodate an intermediate wheel size. An upper conventional buckle and strap holds each skate in place in the wheel tracks. The upper strap is attached to one edge of the carrier plate and is drawn across the back wheel or skate heel of each skate, forcing the skates downwardly against the bicycle mounted carrier plate and at the same time forward into the aforesaid stop bolts. The bottom surface of the carrier plate can be covered with a non-slip rubber material to ensure a secure grip on the bike-mounted rack to prevent slipping. The stop bolts are positioned above the front skate wheels at a position to firmly block a popping out or escape of the skates from the skate carrier, regardless of skate wheel size or the bumpiness of a bike ride. This action could result in the loss of a skate, particularly from a mountain bike driven over very rough terrain.